home sweet home? (closed)

[bloodbathing]

Who: Leonard Church and Agents Washington, Texas, and Maine
What: Meetings, reunions, and definitely no awkwardness.
When: shortly after the April intro log
Where: Islet #4, Cottage #3
Warnings: canon typical language


[ What's better than a group of space marines with lots of interpersonal baggage? Plucking them all from different points in time, then shoving them in the same house and seeing what happens.

MINGLE POST. Make your own top-levels, tag around, go nuts. ]

Comments

[bloodbathing]

[ Maine takes that laugh as a little victory. Shrugs as he answers, mostly echoing Church's words: ]

Here. Can't go home. From past.

[ Six of one, right? ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Yeah, sounds like Wash is lightyears ahead of us, which, frankly? Is pretty fucking bullshit. It had to be the guy that can't tell a story worth a damn? I get that he's a soldier, but I bet even his reports would be hard to follow, right?

[a_shadow]

I know. I will after I'm done with this.

[ She indicates the half-eaten fruit. ]

[counterblows]

Custom. Yeah. Is that what you tell all the retailers?

[As if he has any idea if Maine ever went shopping. Histories remain undisclosed for a reason, though he knows for certain that not every Freelancer followed those directives, considering that the Dakotas knew each others' probably as well as they did their own. Wash, for his part, only ever knew as much about his teammates as they allowed him.]

[It's not like Maine was ever chatty enough to talk about where he came from. How he ended up here.]

[And Wash, obedient little soldier per the Project's wishes, didn't ask.]

Full armor's usually safer, but there's no armor processing here, so it's good to have a backup plan.

[counterblows]

Yeah. She was.

She was...powerful enough to be her own person. To split from the Alpha and be who she was, separate from him, but - she was a part of him at first.

[He doesn't know how it happened with Epsilon; if it was forceful or willed into being or intentional or simply a byproduct of him being who he was, and reclaiming the memories that Alpha discarded.]

[But it was just as cataclysmic.]

[counterblows]

I meant in...you know, in the same house. If he would be all right with you living here.

[Coping with that which can't just be dismissed is just how it is when you've worked with Project Freelancer; that's not what he's protesting.]

[a_shadow]

Ah.

Well. If he has a problem with it, he can tell me. I doubt it, though.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I don't understand. I don't understand all this stupid metaphysical bullshit.

[Wash keeps pulling this on him like it's some kind of trap he keeps falling into. Dangling something and then Church stumbles into it, claims he doesn't want to know, and Wash calls him out on it. Because of course he wants to know. That's the whole problem. It'll haunt him the rest of his life if he doesn't.]

...She knows, right? She's known all along. Did she know about the Director?

[counterblows]

I don't think she did at first. We just thought she was another agent like the rest of us. But at some point when most of the Project's agents went rogue, when she went rogue...I think that's when she figured it out.

[When she tried to break him out - and failed.]

[counterblows]

I guess we'll have to see.

[Tex is one thing. Maine is another.]

You talked to Maine yet?

[bloodbathing]

[ The big Freelancer nods. Then, deciding that he's done his part, he starts moving back into the room he's currently calling his own. ]

[bloodbathing]

[ The sitrep that Wash gave may have been meandering, in Maine's opinion, but the situation itself was anything but typical. Besides: ]

Could be worse.

[ And then, with a hint of amusement tugging at the corner of his lips: ]

Mine get returned. "Too brief for briefing."

[ It's not something Maine would share with a stranger. But the Freelancer doesn't consider Church a stranger. As far as he's concerned, Church is just an ally who has forgotten him. ]

[bloodbathing]

[ Like Wash, Maine never pried into the personal histories of his teammates. Kept quiet about his own, too — even the part literally inked into his skin in the form of the ODST tattoo on his back. Judging by the way he rolls his eyes at "retailers," shopping wasn't a big part of his life. ]

Fair.

[ Conceding the point about armor. Though Maine's eyes do flick down to Wash's similarly armored state, silently pointing out that he's not the only shunning civvies. ]

[counterblows]

Oh, you haven't seen what I've had to wear?

[He's going to try and get you something more dignified, Maine, not that it's likely to matter, but let's just say that Wash's current wardrobe leaves a lot to be desired.]

About half of the stuff I have has camo. Not even good camo. It looks like...here...

[Give him two minutes, and he'll show you. He will show you what C.T. thought was perfect for him.]

[a_shadow]

[ Tex raises an eyebrow but doesn't prevent him going, doesn't say anything else to gauge his feelings on her being here, or anything else. She had, after all, been minding her own business when he had come out to investigate the goings-on in the common area. They may need to communicate more, but Tex is often as reticent as he is to speak up when it's not completely necessary. So she takes a bite of her fruit and watches him go. ]

[bloodbathing]

[ Maine takes one look at that shirt and snorts a laugh. Raises a hand to cover his mouth, concealing his grin but doing nothing to hide the way his eyes crinkle with amusement. It's a useless effort; he snorts again in poorly suppressed laughter. ]

Right color.

[ Look at the bright side, Wash! Even though Maine's barely able to get the words out. ]

[a_shadow]

Briefly. I think he didn't know it was going to be me.

[ And that there is said pointedly—it's an accusation. ]

[counterblows]

[Yeah, well, C.T. gave it to him so it's not like he can just throw it out. It's not like he has a lot of shirts, either.]

[Wash snorts. It's clear that he's past the point of embarrassment about it; now it's just fucking ridiculous, and, frankly, more than a little hilarious.]

All right, all right, laugh it up while you can. Apparently our rabbit friend has no idea what actual fashion is, or what counts as tactical. God knows what we'd get if we tried asking for fatigues.

[counterblows]

Well, you both know that you're here, so I guess that's something.

[He squints at her.]

What do you mean by that?

[bloodbathing]

[ Like it or not, Maine is indeed laughing. It's mostly silent, but the way his shoulders jump betrays him. He's rarely loud in his laughter unless he's completely wasted; this is about as close to cracking up as the big man typically gets.

The mention of fatigues prompts Maine to make a face torn between amusement and offense at the thought of what they might get. ]

Halloween costumes?

[ Fuck knows he's seen enough horrible versions of those. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Church relaxes even further, even reaches over and gives Maine a quick tap on the chestpiece.] You're all right! I'm pretty sure you could rip me in half by just looking at me wrong, but you're all right, big guy. After being around the team I was assigned to? I think everyone can appreciate someone who knows the value of when to shut the fuck up.

[motherfucking_ghost]

And it was way too late by then. Everything had already happened, right? But why--why did the Director do what he did? I know what you told me, I remember, not enough AI for the experiments. [It fractures itself to protect itself.] But, what, so he--he stuck someone he loved in some armor to be a badass Freelancer? But she had Omega. He gave a fragment a fragment, that doesn't make sense, what did he think would happen?

[He's trying to keep it together, turn this into 20 questions so he doesn't run off on Wash again. He doesn't know that he's succeeding. He knows where this is going, more exploding and yelling and arguing, because that's what happens when Wash decides to treat him like this, and he can barely stop it because of course he wants to know.]

[a_shadow]

You could have said something, that's all.

[counterblows]

[Maine is laughing. It's one of those things that he doesn't want to think about in the context of what he missed and what he would never have admitted to himself that he missed, but the massive skyline of his shoulders are shaking silently, and that in and of itself is a victory, in a sense.]

Oh, yeah? All you have to do is go as Goliath and you're set, big guy.

[The muscles in his face feel underworked and underused; laughter feels like it might crack his throat in its unfamiliarity.]

[It's worth it.]

[counterblows]

She was different from the start. Remember how I told you - it's like she was getting special treatment. None of us could understand why.

[Until now.]

He wanted her to be the best. I think he was just trying...trying to get her right. Trying to remake her or recreate her or - [He almost chokes on the words, revulsion coiling up in his throat.]

Trying to turn her into the person he remembered.